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As promised, today's post focuses on exercise. I've shared tips before, but today, it's more concrete. How does exercise work to improve weight and/or health?
Long ago, before dishwashers, electric washing machines, electric dryers, riding lawnmowers and cars, we used our bodies to work. Before grocery stores, women kneaded bread, knelt by the kitchen fireplace and baked it. We chopped wood, scrubbed clothes on a washboard, and walked to the neighbors house. What?! No texting? It's true. Today, the only muscles that get regular exercise are our fingers!
To stay healthy, exercise has to replace what we used to do just to survive. Of course, if you don't want to exercise, you could give up all the electronic goodies and go back to the old-fashioned way of doing things, but I sure would miss you here in bloggy-world.
Effective exercise does two things. It revs up the heart rate and strengthens muscles. The heart is the key to much of our health. It drives the blood through the bloodstream. The blood carries oxygen to the body so it can function well. Efficient bloodflow decreases swelling in the ankles. It speeds digestion and improves our ability to absorb the nutrients we need. Without a strong heart, we don't function well.
We need strong muscles too. The core muscles in our lower abdomen and back, as well as the muscles that wrap around from back to front, give us strength and stability. Strong core muscles improve our posture. Good posture improves our lung capacity. We breathe in stronger, getting more oxygen. The increased oxygen improves the oxygenation of our blood. Better oxygenated blood improves the health of the muscles... and so on and so on. It's one big circle. One intricately created, enormous, delicate circle.
An effective exercise regimen balances cardio work for the heart and strength training for the body.
To maximize your cardio workout:
- Participate in an aerobic exercise (walking, running, elliptical machine, bike),
- Learn your target heart rate (explanation and chart here),
- Warm up at a lower heart rate for five minutes,
- Maintain your target heart rate for half an hour (more details available at the AHA site)
- When first starting exercise you may not be able to maintain a half hour of strenuous exercise. This is the goal to work toward over the course of a month.
- When you can sustain your workout for thirty minutes at your threshold target heart rate, increase your heart rate for a more vigorous workout.
- Cool down at the end for about five minutes.
Why?
- This workout strengthens the heart muscle to pump more efficiently.
- Cardio workouts that don't push the heart rate up (they aren't uncomfortable, they don't take your breath, they aren't difficult), don't work the heart effectively. When you've completed an effective workout should feel physically weary.
- For instance, strolling through the park for three hours could be called three hours of walking, but it doesn't work the heart. Walking at a brisk pace through the park for thirty minutes, sweating, breathing hard, and feeling the heart pound, is effective exercise.
To maximize muscle strengthening exercises:
- Start with larger muscle groups first (chest, abdominals, thighs, and rear end) because they stabilize the body to improve core strength,
- Crunches and leg lifts work the abdomen,
- Squats and lunges work the thighs and rear end,
- Push ups or knee push ups work the chest.
- Start with a number of repetitions that is challenging but not painful.
- Controlled, steady movement that works the muscle is more effective than quick movement. Quick movements use momentum and work the muscles less.
Alternating days between cardio and strengthening exercises should provide a healthy workout. Push yourself hard every day, to the limit of what you think you can do.
As with any exercise or health regimen, be sure to consult your doctor if you have -- or think you might have -- any medical condition that might make exercise harmful!
God bless!
Karen
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